Walk along Wrenbury Canal

Ever heard of Wrenbury? Me neither until we decided to stick a pin in the Cheshire map and see where it takes us!

Wrenbury, in the heart of Cheshire, approximately 20 miles from Wrexham and Chester, and 6 miles from Nantwich, is a little gem.

Wrenbury is a small village based in the civil parish of Wrenbury Cum Frith and lies on the River Weaver. With a total population of 1,100, Wrenbury is a quiet and secluded little village, definitely worth a visit.

We arrived at about 1.00pm after my husband decided to take us down all the muddy “B” roads. As we entered Wrenbury, we first cross a Grade II listed single span timber lift bridge over what is known as the Llangollen canal. This lift bridge has a modern mechanical crank and carries road traffic. In total there are three single span timber lift bridges in Wrenbury two which are Grade II listed footbridges and one drawbridge type with wooden platform hinges.

Just as we crossed the bridge you can’t help avoid the very welcoming Dusty Miller country pub. With an appealing beer garden, we decided to pop in for lunch.

As we walked in their was a warm welcome by the bartender. With a lovely wooden bar and spectacular views looking out at the Llangollen canal we decided to stay. Although the sun was shining it was a bit cold so we decided to stay in doors by the log fire. There were quite a few people enjoying their Sunday roasts.

We decided to sit by the window looking out at the canal. As the main plan was to go for a walk along the canal we decided to have a quick bar lunch rather than the full Sunday roast, although this did look appealing. My husband ordered soup, garlic bread and fries and I decided on the sausage and onion sandwich, with a handful of chips. The young waiter came over to take our order, he was very polite and helpful and full of the joys of spring!

We didn’t have to wait very long for our food, a couple of sips of my Veltins and it arrived – piping hot!

From the Dusty Miller we put our walking boots on, me my favorite Grisport shoes and my husband, his Hi Tec Para boots and off we went across the road and down towards Wrenbury Mill. Here, we were met by the sight of several barges available for hire on the canal. I’ve never been on a canal boat, its something I’ve never thought about. They look a bit like caravans on water!! But these looked great. As we walked passed we had a quick look in and saw they were tidy and interesting (although a bit narrow). It looks like a relaxing holiday, going at a slow pace down the canal, with no worries! Definitely something to think about for this Summer, I think!

We continued our walk down the path along side the canal enjoying the peace and quiet, the birds singing and squirrels playing in the trees, and Wrenbury church tower can be seen in the distance.

There was a lot of wildlife along the canal including these two wild ducks playing on the path. We must have spooked them because they didn’t hang around long, and jumped into the canal to go and hide in the reeds on the
other side of the canal waters.

Along the path we came across the drawbridge type footbridge. What a fantastic piece of equipment, so simple yet so effective. As you can see from the picture the bridge was lowered and we could have followed the public path over the footbridge but we decided to continue along the canal.

There were lovely views across farmland with fantastic sandstone bridges to take photos of.

We got to a very muddy part of the path and so decided to walk up towards the main road and walk back to Wrenbury. We came to a cross roads with a sign post to ‘Sound’ and here came the jokes from my husband –

“This ‘sounds’ good”“I bet this place is ‘sound'”“It ‘sounds’ alright”“It will be ‘sound’ as a pound”“We could just ‘sound’ the place out”“Will we get back safe and ‘sound’?”

It was sign posted one mile so we decided to give it a try – ‘Sounds’ interesting, I thought! Although, I had to listen to all the jokes!

We crossed the Shropshire train track via another sandstone bridge and continued down the country lane to ‘Sound’. Lovely country views and fantastic architecture with Sound Oak Farmhouse and Sound and District Primary School.

As it was getting a bit late, we decided to make our way back to Wrenbury. On the way we stopped in the local corner shop for milk and a bottle of water. Wrenbury has everything!

As we walked through Wrenbury back up to Dusty Miller we passed St Margaret’s Church and Wrenbury school and arrived back at the car about 5.00pm, just as the sun was setting.

If you are looking for a couple of hours peace away from traffic, noise and people, then we would recommend Wrenbury.

We gave this walk – 4.5 stars out of 5.

Reason for score: This walk lost half a mark because I had to clean our shoes when we got back home!